Ultranormal

Category: entertainment

  • OMG I hate school!!

    After only one day in big boy preschool, Brian woke up vomiting in the middle of the night and it continued through the afternoon. Ugh. Stupid germy kids. Kevin was a super trooper and cleaned up the bedding while I cleaned up Brian and aimed him at the toilet.\
    While rocking Brian last night, I was stuck watching middle-of-the-night tv since my tivo is empty and my dvd player broke. There is a show on the WE network called My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding, where people spend around a million dollars, give or take a few hundred thousand dollars. The one episode I watched was about a couple from New Jersey. It was like watching an episode of The Sopranos. The groom isn’t a mobster, but he is the boss of a successful company and his office also services three or four other guys, all of whom seemed to act as his lackeys, exactly like Paulie, etc from The Bada Bing. It was hysterical.

  • Yay TV

    Dexter really messes with my brain sometimes. The show is so fascinating and yet the character is so self-involved, in a completely unattractive way, he could have been a regular on 30-something. I still find myself rooting for him. It’s crazy. Manipulative tv bastards make some good stuff, though, huh?\
    Who else is watching this show?

  • Bigshot? More like MonkeySh*t.

    TWoP’s TV Bigshot has been a huge disappointment and I apologize to any that I inspired to participate. The number of mistakes made by TPTB is now more than 50. 50!!! It’s like the game is run by a bunch of monkeys. I stopped playing awhile ago and can now laugh at the complete meltdown. My network’s rank peaked in the top 50, out of 25,000 networks, before I quit. Not bad, eh?

  • Got a dollar?

    I am 100% behind the writers in the strike, but also want the strike to end because tv is fun to watch. Except for reality tv; me no likey that. But regular tv? That I like a lot. The strike means no new tv. Boooo. If you’re wondering how to show support for the writers and put pressure on the other side to end this strike, well, I just happen to know:\
    United Hollywood has organized a Pencils2Moguls campaign a la the peanuts to the network for Jericho.\
    As stated by Joss Whedon on Whedonesque:

    The campaign itself is fairly simple. We’d like to start it right away, and it goes like this:\
    Point the fans to http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/, where there will be a banner or button allowing them to click through to buy boxes of pencils. The pencils are plain wooden \#2’s, and the company uses sustainable farming for the wood (seriously. They do.) The pricing will be “a buck a box.” (Sustainably harvested wood pencils + PayPal cost per transaction puts us a little higher than the cost of a box if you buy at Office Depot, sorry.) If there’s any money left over, it will be donated to the Union Solidarity Fund, which is a nonprofit for non-WGA members affected by the strike.\
    When fans click to buy the pencils, they can choose to identify the show they are supporting if they want. (This will generate a database of fans by show – among other things, allowing showrunners to thank fans by group if they want to.)\
    The pencils will be delivered in bulk, by trucks, like the peanuts were. The deliveries will be to the 6 CEOs of the 6 congloms (Disney, News Corp, Viacom, Time Warner, CBS, GE) one by one – we’ll probably start with GE. If we get enough to pencils to do all 6, then we will. If we don’t, we’ll concentrate on one or two.\
    If the logistics can be worked out, showrunners who choose to can take part in a “load the pencils” photo op – unpacking the boxes of pencils and shoveling them into bins or boxes for transport to the CEO’s. The visual has the potential to be worth a thousand words – for the fans as well as the general public.\
    We will suggest that the fans send a message similar to this: “We’re all on the same page. Make a fair deal.”\
    This has the potential to be a historic moment in fan history – the first time that all fandoms band together to show that they are a force to be reckoned with to the corporate world. Given the passion and commitment the fans are already showing, this seems a good way to both show our appreciation and respect, as well as giving them the direction they’ve been requesting.\
    We hope you’ll be willing to join us in this effort. It won’t be our last.\
    Carol Barbee Jericho\
    John Aboud\
    United Hollywood\
    Jane Espenson\
    Buffy, Battlestar Galactica\
    Jeffrey Berman\
    United Hollywood\
    Rob McElhenney\
    It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia\
    Laeta Kalogridis\
    United Hollywood\
    Ron Moore\
    Battlestar Galactica\
    Marti Noxon\
    Buffy, Private Practice\
    Jaime Paglia\
    Eureka\
    Bill Prady\
    Two and a Half Men\
    Shonda Rhimes\
    Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice\
    Stephanie Savage\
    Gossip Girl\
    Joss Whedon\
    Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse

    Go ahead. It’s \$1.00 per box and it’s a way to be involved and show our support.\
    Plus, I get to feel like the 12 year old fangirl I never was!! (Until I hit my 30s. Shhh, let’s keep that between you and me, ok?)

  • TV recommendations

    The writers’ strike starts tomorrow. Eeeep! I am not sure how long it will last, but let’s prepare anyway: Question: What television shows, available on DVD, are must-see?\
    You all know my answer but I am going to post it anyway: Veronica Mars, Season 1. The best season of tv, ever. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but… you can skip the other seasons. Shhh, you didn’t hear it from me. But Veronica Mars Season 1? Rocks so hard core! Here are all of the reasons why. The show follows my favorite format: there are bad guys to catch each week but there is also a season-long mystery/Big Bad. Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer also worked this way.\
    Other awesome shows I highly recommend: Firefly, Sports Night, The Office, Friday Night Lights, and Supernatural. For those of you living under a rock, and not just merely uninformed, The West Wing and Friends are must-sees as well.\
    Hit me with all of your recommendations and we’ll get through the writers’ strike together and with the status quo intact: the scrapbooking incomplete, the quilting unfinished, and the great American novel unwritten.\
    ETA- I know the strike won’t affect prime time tv for a couple of months, but how will I know what to ask Santa or the New Year’s Elf for if you don’t tell me now?

  • Covers

    Jason asked about favorite covers on twitter today and there are just too many to list 140 characters at a time. So, here are my favorite cover songs at the moment:

    • José Gonzalez’ cover of Massive Attacks’ Teardrop: Already one of my all-time favorite songs, the cover is haunting in a completely different way. It’s gorgeous.
    • The Rheostatics’ cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The original is old, dour and has gravity. Unfortunately, it also shows its age. The cover is really good. The song rocks, but still packs an emotional punch, even more so than the original.
    • Luna’s cover of Guns n’ Roses Sweet Child o’ Mine: It takes the radio anthem from middle school and turns it into a lovely ballad.
    • Living Colour’s cover of AC/DC’s Back in Black: I know the original is a classic, but between Vernon Reid’s guitar and Corey Glover’s vocals, the cover is better. Yeah, I said it. The cover is better.
    • This Radiant Boy’s cover of They Might Be Giant’s Don’t Lets Start: Actually, everything on Hello Radio is good (The Wrens and Steve Burns’ songs especially), but this takes a classic we’ve all heard a million times, as great as it is, and turns it into a great little punk anthem.\
      There are a ton more, but those are the ones that stick out at the moment. There are of course the classic covers like Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah that’s pretty much turned into the canonical version of the song, any cover of Leonard Cohen’s stuff (I’m Your Fan is a GREAT tribute album), Cake’s cover of I Will Survive, etc that I didn’t mention (well, I just did, but whatever).\
      What’s your favorite cover?

  • Yakity Yak, Talking Back

    Yesterday after Max’s therapy appointment, he told me about a questions board game that he and the doctor played. One of the questions was, “If your walls could talk, what would they say about your family?” Max’s answer: We are a silly family. That is probably the best thing he could have said. It really warmed my heart.\
    Kevin and I watched the premiere of Friday Night Lights last night and I was hugely disappointed. Some of the new story lines were lame and tired. Kevin liked it though. He was like, “How can you call this show bad when you used to watch Seventh Heaven?” Well. After I knocked him upside the head for doubting my taste, I said that I never thought Seventh Heaven was good. It wasn’t. But it never had the potential to be good like FNL has. So there. But y’all should watch Friday Night Lights anyway! The first season was superb and I have faith that this new season will correct itself shortly.\
    TV BigShots over at TWoP is starting to really bug me. There are constant errors in the scores and values of the shows, multiple problems with trying to buy and sell shows, plus (and here is the biggie) there is no gaminess to the game. It isn’t about skill or luck. All you have to do is check the shows’ ratings and then buy based on the previous value. It’s an exercise in spreadsheet coordination, but it’s not so much a game. I would tell you my ranking in the game, but my score hasn’t been updated since last week.\
    My fantasy football team is close to 200 points behind the next lowest team, so maybe I should stick to games that require no skill. I would really like to blame my poor showing on the many, many injuries my players suffered (seriously, if I listed my players, you would laugh), but that would be small of me.\
    And how are you guys doing? Start any new hobbies? Fall in love with any new shows? Tell me! Tell me! TELL ME!

  • Wanna be a Big Shot?

    Kevin and I are playing TV Big Shot at Television Without Pity. It is a fantasy tv ratings prediction game similar to fantasy football. Our shows are:\
    Back to You\
    Chuck\
    Heroes\
    Kitchen Nightmares\
    Reaper\
    The Biggest Loser\
    Anyone else playing the game?

  • Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater

    About a month ago, I gushed about how awesome Big Brother was this season. Murphy’s Law dictates that when a show starts out so freakingly good that it must crash and burn before the end, (Lost anyone?), so of course Big Brother had to totally blow chunks as this season came to a close. I’m not going to go over the specifics except to say: Dick cheated!! On camera! There is proof. I saw it with my own little eyes!! Booo to CBS and the suits behind the show for not ejecting Dick immediately. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.\
    Aww, MSNBC agrees with me.\
    And an even bigger BOO to Kraft and the NFL for not firing or, dammit, at least suspending, New England Patriot’s head coach Brian Belichick. His assistant got caught cheating, Belichick admitted to it, and he barely got a slap on the wrist? Are you FRAKIN kidding me?

  • A Couple Awesome Things

    First off, anyone who can find a funny way to raise money for a charity, especially one dealing with hairblz, is awesome. The Great Mustache Contest is awesome. Not only do they have a killer tag line: “Because it takes balls to grow a mustache”, they’re raising money for testicular cancer research – by getting guys to grow mustaches!\
    I’m still thinking about it… the only thing holding me back is that I may be speaking at a conference smack in the middle of the contest, and I’m not sure I want to go speak, representing AOL, sporting a Cletus. But, I may go ahead and do it anyway (update: I went ahead and signed up – the donate button will appear on the site shortly).

    Pirate Kitteh!

    Pirate Kitteh!

    Secondly, the awesome Scott Andrew is self-producing his new album. I accidentally discovered Scott a long time ago and loved his work with The Walkingbirds. I met him at SxSW, and he’s a really good guy. He’s accepting donations to try to finish up the album, and I think that’s great. It takes balls (there they are again!) to go it alone and try to do it all yourself, and I think that should not only be applauded, but supported. The more artists are able to really go it alone without having to sell their souls to corporate record labels, and make it work, that can only mean good things for music fans. It means more music for us, and gets us closer to the artists we like. Go, Scott, go!\
    I’m slowly working on the Rails app that will power The International Day of Awesomeness blog and an extra special something that my pal Kedar suggested. Slowly because by the time I do 9-10 hours of “real” work, and spend a couple hours playing with the boys, I’m pretty much shot. I’ve got things started, but nowhere near ready to launch – but keep your eyes peeled. I’m hoping to launch it in the next month or so…